Clams!

By Kathleen Gaskell
onSeptember 01, 2010

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Words about clams in the Bay are hidden in this puzzle. Can you dig them up? Look up, down, backward, forward and diagonally. The italic words in parentheses are not hidden in the puzzle. Once all of the words have been found, the remaining letters will spell out what some of the Chesapeake's waterfowl think about clams.

Adductor (muscle that closes the clam's two valves [or shells])Alga (aquatic organism eaten by clams)Angel wing (Bay clam species)Benthic (aquatic, bottom-dwelling creature)Bivalve (mollusk, such as a clam or oyster, with a shell that is made up of two valves)Burrow (tunnel in the mud or sand where a clam lives)ClamGape (the area where the clam's shell doesn't completely close)Gem (very tiny Bay clam species)Foot (muscle used by the clam to move)Hinge (part of the clam where it opens and closes)Jackknife (Bay clam species)Ligament (part of the clam that works like a spring to keep the clam open)Macoma (Bay clam species)Mudflat (clam habitat)Periostracum (tough organic material, often brown, that covers the outside of the clam's shell and protects it from being eroded or dissolved)Protozoans (one-cell creatures eaten by clams)Razor (Bay clam species)Sand (clam habitat)ShellSiphon (A clam has two, tubular siphons: one that sucks in water and food and another that expels water and waste.)Surf (small Bay clam species often found on shorelines)Umbo (oldest part of the clam, located near the hinge)VALVE (another name for each of the clam's 2 shells)White (common color of clams)

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About
Kathleen Gaskell

Kathleen A. Gaskell, the layout & design editor for the Bay Journal, has been involved with several environmental programs for children.